Vendetta
by LoveSuperman
Summary: When Maddie's best friend is murdered, she must return to her old home town to find out what happened, and face things she'd been running away from her whole life. With a rogue Alpha going around killing people, Maddie must take action to protect the people of the small town, all the while trying to help a newly turned wolf as well as making sure she avenges her friend's death.
1. Reunited

**Reunited**

_Manhattan, New York_

Sunday, January 16, 2011

_"She's dead."_

Two words, one effect. It was a painful clench of her heart, her lungs closing up and not allowing air, her body giving out. She'd collapsed, barely breathing. She couldn't believe it, this wasn't supposed to happen anymore, nobody was supposed to die.

Maddie knew she couldn't let this go, she had to find out what happened. But that meant going back to the one place she never wanted to go back to. And the worst part was that _he_ would be there as well. But she had no choice, going back there was the only thing she could do, it was a thing she _had_ to do.

"Maddie!" Dylan's voice called out, worried. A hand rested on her shoulder and the warmth of it brought comfort to her.

"I'm okay," she managed after a couple of minutes, but that was a lite, she was most definitely not okay.

"Are you sure?" Dylan asked.

Maddie nodded, straightening out and standing, letting her eyes fall shut for a moment. She didn't cry, of course she wouldn't cry, she never cried.

"Get the jet ready, I'll be heading to Beacon Hills tonight," Maddie ordered, meeting Dylan's wide brown eyes.

"Are you sure?" Dylan questioned, still worried. Of course he was worried, the man had worried about her for most of her life.

"I'm positive," Maddie nodded. "Send a message out of the pck, tell them I'll be heading to California," she murmured, frowning slightly, "I still want daily updates from Alphas," she added.

"Maddie," Dylan started, but stopped once he noticed the warning look on his Alpha's face.

"I'm packing," Maddie informed, turning her back on him, "just get everything ready for me, please."

It was late night, if she left soon, she could arrive in Beacon Hills in the early morning, most probably while it was still dark.

"I will."

She turned away from him, walked into the hall and away from the living room of their house, heading up the stairs. No one ever died, no one ever died in her pack unless they were already old and it was their time. She was a strong Alpha, and her pack followed the rules of the Hunters, no one was supposed to die anymore.

Dylan, of course, checked in with her a while after. Maddie knew he was worried, and Maddie knew he was sad. They'd just last a member of their pack, they'd just lost a woman who to Maddie was like a sister and to Dylan was like a daughter. Of course after what happened six years ago, it was obvious that Dylan would take her in, just like he had taken Maddie in her parents' deaths.

"Maddie."

She turned, slightly annoyed that Dylan was bother her so much. She stalked to the door, opening it and coming face to face with a very nervous Dylan.

"What is it?" She asked.

"It's Mikaela, she's flipping out," Dylan informed.

In that moment, the blonde burst through the door, tears streaming down her face. In a flurry, she crashed into Maddie, sobbing loudly.

"She's gone, Maddie, she's gone!" Mikaela cried, grasping tightly at Maddie's waist. She pulled away, brown eyes wide as she looked up at her. "I'm coming with you, and you can't stop me," she declared.

Maddie frowned, shaking her head, "No, Mikaela! I don't know what's going on out there, and taking you could put you in danger."

"Watch me," she said, rubbing her face dry and frowning as she pulled away, "not care."

"You're not funny," Maddie declared.

"None of this is funny, Maddie," Mikaela said, shaking her head, "I don't care if it's dangerous, I'm coming with you."

Maddie met Dylan's eyes. "What do you think?" She asked.

"You're our Alpha, Maddie, it's your decision," Dylan replied.

"Yes," she replied, pursing her lips, "but she's _your_ daughter."

Dylan sighed, looking down at the ground for a second. Mikaela was grasping at her wrists, standing in front of her with pleading eyes, her nose still blotchy from crying. Finally, Dylan looked up at her, jaw clenched.

"You should take her with you, Maddie, she needs you, and you need her, and Mikaela could be help," he declared.

"Are you sure about this?" Maddie questioned.

"Positive."

* * *

_Beacon Hills, California_

Monday, January 17, 2011

Dylan had been part of her pack long before she was born, she'd grown up with the man, and lived with him and his wife after her parents' death. Mikaela was born when Maddie was only eight, and since then Maddie had always been at her side. Mikaela was the only thing that could bring happiness into her life after the most horrible thing in her life.

Mikaela was sitting at her side in the car - latest model, black Aston Martin One-77 - playing with a Rubic's cube. Mikaela was dressed similarly to Maddie. Since the two had taken a long plane ride, they'd decided that sweatpants and tank tops were the best choice of wardrobe. But the two girls weren't the only two that had traveled to Beacon Hills. Dylan had insisted - and their companion had insisted as well - that someone else besides Mikaela join Maddie; the chosen one had been Jayden; a life long old friend.

Jayden was currently driving behind them, she could see the car - a red Ferrari F12 Berlinetta - in her rearview mirror, and she had clear sight of his face as well.

The three of them were heading to Maddie's old house in the woods, she still owned it, of course she wouldn't give it off to someone else, and the house was very much the same as it was before she left Beacon Hills. Though if that was true, Maddie suspected she would have to buy a couple of new things for the house.

It was painful to be back in town, she knew coming back wouldn't end up well, coming back the first time hadn't turned out well, Maddie knew that a second time wasn't going to end up good either. She was sure this small town was cursed.

"How does it feel like to be back?" Mikaela asked, propping her feet up on the dashboard and making the seat lean back.

Maddie thought back to the last time she was in Beacon Hills, she was fifteen, that was about nine years ago. She'd only stayed in town a few months, she could still remember her first day back.

* * *

_Tuesday, January 14, 2003_

_Maddie was getting more and more angry by the second, the stupid lock on her locker refused to open, she knew that if she yanked any harder on the stupid thing it was sure to break._

_"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in."_

_Maddie was ready to knock someone out as she turned around when she came face to face with Derek Hale. A wide grin spread across her features, completely ignoring the three boys standing behind him before throwing herself into his arms._

_Derek stumbled a bit as he caught her, though it didn't take long for him to right himself and wrap his arms around her, laughing happily._

_"I haven't seen you in forever!" Maddie finally exclaimed, hopping down from his arms, though her hands were still on his shoulder._

_"That's what happens when you move away, Madison," Derek smiled._

_Maddie huffed and glared, "It's _Maddie_," she told him. "And you should've visited."_

_"Yeah, like my parents would ever allow me to go to New York," Derek laughed, blue eyes dancing with laughter as he shook his head._

_"Uh, Derek?"_

_It was like a little light went off in his head, suddenly Derek realized his friends were standing behind him, he'd actually forgotten._

_"Oh sorry," Derek turned slightly, Maddie's hands sliding down from his shoulders. "Uhm, guys this is Madison - call her Maddie or she'll hit you and it'll hurt, Maddie these are the guys."_

_"What's up?" The three boys said, almost simultaneously._

_"'Sup?" Maddie smiled._

_"You guys go ahead, I'll catch up," Derek declared, nodding his head._

_The three boys headed off without protest, talking amongst each other._

_"So, you're back in town?" Derek asked curiously._

_"Yeah," Maddie nodded, "I think it's time to face my demons," she added, turning her attention back to her lock._

_Derek leaned against the lockers, cocking his head to the side as he examined every part of her. He hasn't seen her in two years, and she looked a little bit different, no drastic changes, but they were there._

_"Are you staying at your old house?" Derek asked curiously._

_Maddie froze at the mention of her old home and she shook her head quickly, swallowing, "No," she said, "No. I'm not. I'm staying at Dylan's place."_

_"Oh," Derek mumbled, and he mentally kicked himself for bringing up anything related to her family. "Does that mean Mikaela is back as well?"_

_"Yeah," Maddie nodded, growling in frustration when she couldn't open the lock, "I'm going to kill someone," she muttered._

_Derek laughed, taking a hold of her wrist and pulling the lock away from her hold, "Relax," he said in between chuckled, "just let me have a go at it."_

_Maddie rolled her eyes, "1-3-9."_

_"Are you serious?" Derek asked, pausing. "That's the easiest combo ever, how can you get it wrong?" He said incredulously, earning a hard punch to his shoulder from Maddie, her hazel eyes narrowed in anger._

_"It's probably not a good idea to piss me off right now, Derek," she declared._

_"Relax, Madison," Derek laughed, "I got it."_

_It took only a few seconds for Derek to open up the lock and smile widely at her, a large mocking smile that Maddie wanted to slap right off._

* * *

Derek had been the only person who kept her grounded in her days back, maybe that's why her fifteen year old self managed to fall in love with him. Now, things were different, everything was different, especially her and Derek.

"It feels like nothing is going to be okay," Maddie replied honestly, because Mikaela was truly the only person she could be completely honest with.

Mikael turned to her, eyebrows raised, but she knew Maddie enough to know that she shouldn't ask any questions, she knew that Maddie would tell her when she wanted to.

"So, is it a coincidence that Jayden was the one to come with us?" Mikaela asked after a couple of seconds of silence.

"What do you mean?" Maddie inquired, taking a right turn on the upcoming street.

"I mean, Jayden and you have been boning since how lon-"

"Who uses the word _boning_?" Maddie asked.

"I do," Mikaela replied, rolling her eyes, "I'm just saying, it's January."

Maddie rolled her eyes as she started up the road in the woods. "We don't talk about me and Jayden, those are the rules," she declared.

"Okay, whatever," Mikaela declared, rolling her eyes.

"Stop worrying your pretty blonde head about it," Maddie ordered, "and concentrate more on the fact that you still have to buy school supplies. The new semester is starting and I don't want you to fail."

"Like I would ever fail," Mikaela laughed, "but since you did mention buying supplies, does that mean I get to buy back to school clothes?"

"Don't care," Maddie replied, "Jayden's the one that's taking you so talk to him about it, but use my credit card, okay?"

"Sure," Mikaela nodded, smiling widely.

Maddie turned her attention to the woods, she remembered running through them almost every night, and her pack going out into the woods every full moon, the memory felt like a stab to the heart. Though it didn't feel like she was completely crushed until she saw her old home. She hadn't stepped a foot inside, not since she was thirteen, and that was eleven years ago.

She parked in front of her home and stared at it for a couple of seconds before turning to Mikaela, "You and Jayden head inside, I'll go out to the town, there's something I need to do," Maddie declared.

"Uhm, yeah sure," Mikaela nodded, sending Maddie a worried look before hopping out of the car.

"I'm gonna go shopping, the house isn't stocked. I'll be back with breakfast."

"Alright," Mikaela nodded, shutting the door and heading over to a confused Jayden as Maddie pulled out of the drive.

Maddie wasn't ready to step foot inside that house, maybe she should've just bought an apartment and stayed away from the place. All the house did was bring back horrible memories.

* * *

_Saturday, March 15, 2001_

_Mikaela was laughing loudly as she rolled around on the floor, the small five year old trying to crawl away from her father as he tickled her. Maddie watched them with a large smile, laughing as she watched them._

_Maya was standing at the_ _doorway to the living room. She and Dylan had of course offered to take care of her - even though she could take care of herself - as her parents went out on their weekly date night. Maya watched her husband and child with a small smile. Though Maya wasn't Mikaela's biological mother, the two were truly just like mother and daughter, which wasn't hard to believe since Maya had been married to Dylan when Mikaela was only a year old._

_The doorbell rang and Maddie sat up from the couch,heading over to the door. She expected Derek and Laura to be on the other side of the door, but she came face to face with Deputy Stilinski, a cruiser with flashing lights parked in the drive._

_"Madison," Deputy Stilinski greeted._

_"Deputy Stilinski?" Dylan asked, confused as he came up behind Maddie, Mikaela laughing in his arms._

_"It's about your parents," Deputy Stilinski said, addressing Maddie, "there's been an accident."_

_As Maddie listened to the Deputy speak, telling her exactly what happened to her parents, she started to tune out, all she could hear was heartbeats, blood pumping, breaths taken in. And then she was falling._

* * *

She stopped at Starbucks, buying a Chair frap and flirting slightly with the barista to take her mind off of the town and smiled widely at the written number on her cup. She went shopping, buying food for the house as well as a couple of things she thought the house would need. None of them would fit in the car, so she of course had to call in someone to take all of the stuff back to the house. She left the man driving the truck with precise instructions and then went off to do something else, because she wasn't ready to go in there. She wasn't ready to face her old house yet.

* * *

Somehow, Maddie had managed it, she had managed to stay out of the house all day. She'd found something to do in Beacon Hills, which was sometimes very hard and did everything possible to stay away from her old home. She hadn't had to go back to her house in years, she hadn't even stepped foot in Beacon Hills since she was fifteen. Maddie had planned on leaving the place behind her, though still owning her old house probably not a good way to let go.

It was dark out, the moon was out, shining brightly. Full moon was in two days, and she didn't know how her pack was going to react to the danger in Beacon Hills. Though she still didn't really _know_ what was going on. For that, she first had to find Derek, and the man was hard to find when he didn't want to be.

Which was the exact reason why Maddie was out in the woods, sniffing through leaves, dirts and trees trying to find a trail. The last time she'd seen Derek was when the majority of the Hale family had died. That was six years ago. Despite living in the same city, and his older sister constantly being with her. Derek had managed to avoid Maddie like the plague. But his scent, his scent was something she would always recognize, and she found herself almost screaming with joy when she finally found a good trail.

As she followed it, she let her eyes glow to see better in the darkness, and she really should've been paying more attention to her surroundings instead of paying sole attention to Derek's trail because she was suddenly thrown hard to the side as a body rammed into her side at full speed, knocking the air out of her.

They rolled on the ground a couple of seconds, one struggling to gain dominance over the other. Finally, Maddie managed to pin him down.

"Madison," Derek greeted.

"I could've ripped your throat out," Maddie growled, eyes shining bright red.

"But you didn't," he replied, "because you knew who I was. You're slipping though, being caught off guard like that."

Maddie growled once again, "I was actually looking for you," she said.

"_What_ are you doing here?" Derek asked, flipping them around so he was pinning her down this time, his hands holding her wrists to the ground.

"You're getting leaves and dirt in my hair," Maddie declared, pursing her lips.

"What are you doing here?" Derek asked, his voice rumbling.

"Same thing you are," Maddie replied, wrapping her legs around his waist and unpinning one of her wrist from his hold and flipping them around, sitting up straight and running her fingers through her hair to try and get the dried up leaves out of it. "Dylan told me about Laura."

"I didn't expect you to come," Derek declared, his voice cold.

"Did you expect me just to drop it?" Maddie asked in surprise.

"What if I didn't want you to come?" Derek snapped, sitting up, bringing his face inches from her. Maddie felt the pang at her chest from his words and suddenly felt cold.

"Well it's not really up to you, Derek," she replied, "I didn't come here for you."

"Shame," Derek whispered, his hand running up from her knees to her top of her thighs, "I always liked it when you came for me."

Maddie rolled her eyes at his statement, and hated her body for the involuntary shiver that ran up her spine.

"We're done here," Maddie declared, starting to rise up, before Derek brought her down onto his lap once again.

"So soon?" Derek asked, his tone mocking, though he really did mean it in a way. Seeing her again, it was both something he'd been hoping for for a long time yet it was something that he couldn't really deal with, seeing her again, it was painful.

"Derek, what are you doing?" Maddie asked, swallowing.

"No idea," he replied slowly, frowning. "But, do you remember what it was like? Late nights, wild sex."

"We haven't talked in six years and the first thing you want to do is go back down memory lane? It's been nine years since we've been together, you can't just pop in my life like nothing ever happened."

Derek's jaw clenched, "Technically it's been six years since we've been together, and if I remember correctly we had some pretty wild sex involved then too."

"That doesn't change anything," Maddie growled, "and that doesn't help you at all in this argument, it just makes me more angry. Six years ago you were a total douchebag that used me for sex for a couple of weeks before disappearing, in fact, I think that you're still a douchebag."

"I don't want to talk about this right now," Derek declared, grasping her hips to get her off his lap.

But Maddie took a hold of his wrist and quickly pushed him onto his back, taking a seat on his chest, shaking her head.

"Nope, you see, you started this conversation, and you started it by being a complete asshole, so now, we're going to finish this conversation now, whether you like it or not."

"I always loved it when you took charge," Derek laughed, smirking.

"You're kind of being a real asshole right now," Maddie declared.

"It's what I do best."

Maddie clenched her jaw, shaking her head, "No, the Derek I used to kno-"

"I'm not the Derek you used to know," Derek snapped, trying to sit up, but he was quickly pushed down again.

"Obviously," Maddie said.

"You know, I don't think this going to work out," Derek said, trying to sit up once again, his attempts quickly squandered when Maddie shoved him down, harder than before, making him wince.

"You know, in the risk of sounding like some really clingy ex-girlfriend - how could you just use me for sex and just ditch me like that?" Maddie explained, landing a solid punch to Derek's chest.

Derek pursed his lips, "I'm pretty sure clingy ex-girlfriends sound way crazier than that," he said, "But I don't really have much experience so what should I know, right?"

Maddie sighed, tapping Derek's knees twice. Derek bent them, allowing Maddie to lean against them. She froze when she realized the familiarization of their movement, it was something they used to do a lot when they were together.

"I think we should get off each other and possibly start arguing again," Derek declared.

Maddie rolled her eyes, "You're such a girl, and why does everything have to be about arguing with you?"

"We could do it about sex bu-"

Maddie landed another solid punch on his chest, "So you can ditch me again?" She asked.

Derek rolled his eyes at her comment and struggled slightly to unpin his arms from under her legs before making a makeshift pillow for himself with his hands.

"Please, we both know six years ago was just pity fucking," Derek said, his tone hard.

"I feel like punching you," Maddie declared, "I don't understand how incredibly stupid you are. Pity fucks, Derek? Honestly?"

With a growl, Derek sat up, forcing Maddie to slide from his chest and onto his lap. "Listen, Madison, we both know, and we both knew, six years ago, that our relationship ended when you left. If we're talking about ditching, let's talk about how you left me in the dust nine years ago."

"I had a perfectly good reason to leave, Derek! My pack needed me!" She exclaimed, growling and digging her nails into Derek's hand.

Derek paused, blinking slowly for a couple of seconds and trying to ignore the pain Maddie was inflicting.

"This is ridiculous," he declared, "We're arguing about something that happened _nine_ years ago, isn't that usually what people in their forties do? I mean, don't fifteen year old get over their break ups after a couple of months? Why are we arguing about this _nine_ years later?"

"Technically we're also arguing about our sort of relationship, sort of break up about six years ago," Maddie offered.

"We're twenty-four, Madison, can you imagine what other people would think if they could listen in on this conversation?"

"I don't want to know," Maddie replied, shoving herself off of Derek and looking around the woods. Derek quickly stood, dusting himself off. "And I honestly don't care, and I honestly don't want to talk about all of this relationship thing, I'm not here for this, Derek. I'm here to find out who killed Laura!"

Maddie was desperate to finish this conversation. She was sure her heart was beating out of her chest. Everything was too overwhelming, way too overwhelming. Dealing with her old home, this town again, Derek, Laura's death. It was too much, everything was way too much.

Maddie didn't realize she was falling until Derek caught her.

"You're okay," Derek murmured, "you're fine."

"I really need to start controlling these things," Maddie declared.

"I thought you stopped having them," Derek said, slightly confused.

Maddie straightened up, shaking her head to clear it, "I did, before all of _this_," she declared, motioning to everything around her. "I mean, I don't even know how this happens, werewolves are supposed to be about immune to everything."

"Panic attacks aren't physical," Derek declared.

Maddie glared at him, punching him in the shoulder. Her panic attacks were rare, but they always pissed her off, she felt angry, like she wasn't in control, and she never liked it.

"Where are you staying?" Derek asked, sighing.

"My old house," Maddie replied.

"Really?" Derek was incredibly surprised.

Maddie ran a hand through her hair, shaking her head and scoffing. "I haven't even stepped a foot inside. We got here this morning and I've been doing everything I can to avoid that place."

"The Madison I used to know would've never ran away," Derek declared, sighing. "And if I know anything about you - and I'm pretty sure I do - I know that all this shit that's happened to you has only made you stronger."

Maddie stared at him for a couple of seconds before breaking into a small smile, "That sounded incredibly cliche."

* * *

Derek watched her as they walked back to her house, the old Heathrow house, he hadn't been there in a long time, and she hadn't been there either, and he was guessing seeing her old house was as painful as him seeing his own. Though, he thought it better for her that her house wasn't burnt down and smelling of death. Unlike Maddie, Derek welcomed his old home, accepted the sight of the burnt house as a punishment for what he'd done.

"What was Laura doing here?" Maddie asked finally as they started walking up the driveway.

"She didn't tell you?" Derek asked in surprise.

"Nope," Maddie replied, "all she told me was that she was visiting for a while."

Derek sighed, "I'm still trying to figure it out myself. She told me that there was something she had to look into, I've been doing some digging, and I'm pretty sure I know why Laura came down here."

"What is it?"

"There was a newspaper article, it was about a dead deer with a spiral," Derek informed.

Maddie paused when she came in view of the house and turned to Derek, "Seems like a pretty good reason to come, I just wish she would've told me."

"She probably knew you wouldn't have let her come at all," Derek replied, turning his attention to the large house surrounded by woods, "now, come on, be brave."

Maddie stared at the house, she could hear her heart beating fast in her chest, and she crossed her arms, them acting as a protective barrier between her and her house. She hated feeling this out of control, she hated the feeling of fear at the pit of her stomach. She shouldn't be this afraid, she really shouldn't be this freaked out about going into a house that she used to live in.

"You can do this," Derek said, his voice soft. "You know that right?"

"Yeah," Maddie said, clearing her throat.

Derek stared at the house for a moment, he could sniff out two different scents in the property.

"There's other people here?" Derek asked, surprised.

"Mikaela's here, surprised you didn't recognize her scent," Maddie informed.

"I haven't seen her in a long time, Madison," Derek huffed. "Who's the other one?"

Maddie cleared her throat, avoiding his gaze, "Jayden, he's a very old friend," she replied.

"Old friend?" Derek asked, eyebrow arched. He had heard the stutter in her heart at her words. "How old of a friend are we talking? And I'm not sure _friend_ is the word you're searching for."

"Does it matter?" Maddie asked, turning to him.

"No," Derek replied, shaking his head, "it's doesn't."

Maddie sighed and faced the house. She was sure she could do it, it wouldn't be hard. More than anything she was afraid of the memories she would experience. Since she'd found out about her parents' death, she'd done everything to repress all of her memories. It's something she did best, lock up any memory that would bring her pain in a small box and shove it in the dark corners of her brain.

With a deep breath, Maddie surged forward, reaching for the door and wringing it open. Suddenly, Maddie could see her mother poking her head out of the kitchen, smiling widely and greeting her with genuine excitement.

She blinked and then her mother was gone and that's the part that felt like a punch to the gut, because her mother wasn't there anymore. She breathed in, closing her eyes, and she could just imagine the scent of her fathers cologne as it wafted from his hung coat by the door, but when she opened her eyes, there was no coat and no smell and it made her both angry and sad at the same time and she hated it.

"Hey," Derek murmured, coming up behind her. "You okay?"

"Yes," she replied, taking a deep breath. "I'm okay," she said, even though she really wasn't. He chest felt tight and she wanted to cry, but she hadn't cried in years, she wasn't going to start now.

"No one's home," Derek declared.

"No," Maddie agreed, "come on," she added, waving him in. "You hungry? The fridge got stocked up this morning and it's full of amazingness."

"Sure," Derek murmured, "you cooking?"

"If you want, I'm sure I can come up with something," she declared, peering into the fridge and looking over her shoulder to see Derek leaning against the island in the middle of the kitchen, an unreadable expression on his face as he watched her.

"I saw you and Maya on TV the other day," Derek commented.

"Yeah?" Maddie murmured, starting to take out the necessary ingredients for spaghetti and meatballs.

"Yeah," Derek said, "it was before," he stopped, gripping the island top, "before Laura decided to come to Beacon Hills. She'd always watch E! News and Maya and you came up, and some guy. Laura got all excited, because you don't usually come out on TV much, it's always Dylan and its never in shows like E! so she called me over."

Maddie listened intently as she started to cook, having put her hair up in a messy bun and shrugging off her leather jacket.

"They started talking about Maya and her newest movie, and then they started talking about you and the other guy - there was pictures of all three of you, and they started talking about your relationship with this guy. This guy who has apparently been in your life for quite some years now."

"What are you getting at, Derek?" Maddie asked.

"I'm just wondering if you moved on is all," he replied.

Maddie stopped and turned around to face him. "Was I not supposed to?" She asked him, her voice hard. "I mean, nine years ago, we weren't done, I left because I had to and you broke it off. Six years ago you came to me and you begged for my attention and I gave it to you and you left me in the dust. Are you telling me, that after you leaving me twice, I'm not allowed to move on?"

She watched him as he clenched his jaw and gripped the wood tightly.

"So it's my fault," Derek declared, "it's always my fault."

"No, don't do that," Maddie snapped, angry, "I've never blamed you for anything, I've stood by your side through everything and through all of your mistakes I've never blamed you for anything, even when you blamed yourself. I'm not saying it's your fault that we're over, but I'm not not saying it isn't," she declared, staring at him with a clenched jaw. "I've managed to live my life without you, Derek, and that's not a bad thing."

"I know," Derek replied, finally looking up to meet her gaze. "I know that, I know you're right about everything, you always have been. You have been the one thing in my life that's always been perfect, and I discarded it. I'm sorry for that."

His tone was hard and she knew even talking about his emotions was something he didn't do a lot, but he'd always been open with her, and she was glad that that hadn't changed.

"You deserve to be happy, and I don't want to be the person that stops you from that."

Maddie walked forward, standing in front of him. "You make me happy, Derek, you always have, and that's never going to stop."

He looked at her, and she could see the old Derek in his eyes. Just like she'd seen the old Derek in the past few moment she'd been with him. But she also knew that it would end soon, she knew he was acting this way because they'd seen each other for the first time in years. She knew this would end soon. She knew this Derek, sweet, thoughtful Derek would be locked away soon enough.

"I'm home!"

Maddie heard the door slam shut and a few things banging against something hard along with a string of curses before Jayden and Mikaela walked into the kitchen.

"Oh, you're actually inside!" Mikaela exclaimed giddily, clapping her hands excitedly.

Maddie had already pulled away from Derek, and she noticed too, how he pulled away, putting up those walls again. She also didn't fail to notice the glare he sent Jayden's way.

"Yeah," Maddie said, turning around to take out a pot for the pasta.

Mikaela gasped loudly, and Maddie turned to see the younger blonde ram into Derek, almost making them fall. And then she was crying her heart out, gripping onto him tightly.

She watched as Derek stood in shock, looking down at her in surprise. And then he returned the hug, wrapping his arms around her in a hesitant hug.

Jayden stepped forward, walking around all of them and coming up beside her on the stove.

"I'll take care of this," he said.

Maddie nodded and stepped away from the stove, walking over to where Mikaela and Derek were standing. She tried, unsuccessfully, to remove Mikaela from Derek's arms so she could lead them to the living room, but Mikaela wouldn't let go, she was still crying, and Maddie had spotted claws as she'd tried to pull the younger girl away.

Derek met her gaze for a moment and then he was lifting Mikaela, carrying her bridal style and making his way to the living room, taking a seat on the couch. Mikaela curled up on his lap, crying into his shoulder.

Maddie propped herself on the coffee table across from them, running her hand through Mikaela's hair in a comforting gesture.

The last time Mikaela had seen Derek it had gone down pretty much the same way. She'd cried in his arms for hours before she watched him walk away. Well, that's how it'd been when Maddie was around. She knew that Mikaela and Derek had seen each other after that, given that Mikaela loved being with Laura and Derek as well.

Derek just held her, and Maddie could hear the rumble from his chest, not exactly a growl, but enough to be heard by them both. Maddie was sure Mikaela could feel the vibrations since she was so close to him.

Finally, after a couple of minutes she stopped crying and sat in silence for a couple more before she finally spoke.

"I got your shirt all wet," she murmured.

"It's fine," Derek said, voice gruff.

Mikaela looked over at her Alpha, brown eyes meeting hazel ones. Before anyone could react, Mikaela was pulling in both Derek and her for a tight hug. It was an awkward position, since both Derek and Mikaela were still sitting, but Maddie managed to make it work, with her knee between Derek's legs, and resting her head on his shoulder and holding on tightly to both her Beta and the man she loved.

"We're going to make it through this," Mikaela declared, "we're gonna find out what happened to the Queen and we will get our revenge. I swear the last words this sucker will hear will be 'Off with his head!' before you kill him," Mikaela said.

"Okay," Maddie nodded.

Mikaela finally loosened her grip, allowing Maddie to pull away. She stared at the two people in front of her. Maddie had a pack, a huge pack, thousands of wolves that she was connected to, that were her family, but these two, including Mikaela's parents and Jayden who was currently in the kitchen, were the people that mattered most to her, and she didn't think that was ever going to change.

"I think you guys needs some ice cream."

They turned to see Jayden staring at them, a tub of ice cream in his hands, open with three spoons stabbed into the frozen treat.

"We also have movies, you can delve into chick flicks to make yourself lose a little more tears, or horror to get angry at the stupidity of movie characters."

Mikaela happily took the ice cream from his hand, quick to take a spoonful into her mouth.

"I think horror is in order," Maddie nodded, "but, lets save it until after dinner," she added, taking the ice cream from Mikaela.

The blonde rose from her seat and sighed, taking the ice cream from Maddie's hands and heading into the kitchen, most probably to put it up on the freezer, though she was sure the younger blonde would make sure to take in a few spoonfuls before putting it away.

Maddie met Jayden's gaze and nodded over to the kitchen. He nodded, walking off, leaving just her and Derek. When she turned to look at him he was already standing, which made her have to look to at him.

"You're still staying, right?" Maddie questioned.

"Do you want me to?" He asked in reply.

"Always," Maddie replied honestly.

He stared at her for a moment, his expression unreadable. And then he nodded, "Okay," he said, walking past her and into the dining room.

She stared after him, a small smile on her face. Maddie hadn't gotten a chance to really talk to Derek in years, and she was surprised, of course she hadn't expected it but she never gave up on him, she couldn't.

Maddie took a seat at the head of the table and watched as the wolves in front of her served themselves heaps of steaming spaghetti on their plates with their fair share of meatballs. Jayden proceeded to offer drinks, and while he served them, she served herself her own plate of food, thanking him when he set one of the cold canned Cokes in front of her and the other two before taking a seat. She carefully rolled up the pasta on her fork and took a bite, chewing it and swallowing, looking up at the expectant faces of the wolves at her table. She nodded, and immediately they dug into their food, Mikaela actually popping a whole meatball in her mouth.

* * *

Jayden and Mikaela had both bid their goodbyes, heading up to their rooms. Jayden hadn't asked any questions, which Maddie was incredibly grateful for.

"So that's him," Derek murmured after a couple of minutes. He was staring ahead at the credits on the screen.

"He's a friend," Maddie sighed, finally telling him the truth. Because yes, her and Jayden were just friends.

"I can scent him on you, and you on him, obviously you guys are more than just friends," Derek snapped, "please don't lie to me about it."

"Derek, that's the truth, me and Jayden, we're friends, and once in a while, through January, he's my outlet."

A loud growl ripped through the air, angry and menacing and Maddie understood why. Suddenly Derek was hauling her from her spot on the couch and slamming her hard against the wall.

"January?" He growled out, incredulous, "you let him touch you_ then_?"

His canines were sharpened and his eyes shined a bright blue, she could feel his claws digging into her arms, but they didn't pierce the skin.

She growled, eyes flashing red, and she pushed him off of her, hard enough to send him stumbling back.

"You don't control me, Derek," Maddie snapped. A cruel smirk appearing on her face, "Besides, a girl has needs."

She was up against the wall again, and she could feel the anger rolling off of him, white, hot, burning anger, and he wasn't the only that felt it. She was angry, more than angry, she could feel it boiling under her skin. And then she was kissing him, really she should've seen this coming.

His lips were soft and full. Maddie can't help herself and reached up to feel the hard chest that hides beneath his navy blue t-shirt. He stiffens momentarily before he quickly responds to her, large strong arms wrapping around her, pulling her tighter against him.

Derek's lips start moving with hers, parting slowly and caressing hers like so many times before.

His tongue meets hers - warm, exploring - and a groan escapes him. Any restraint he might have been experiencing before turning rapidly into need, one arm around her waist and pulling Maddie closer to him, his other hand resting on her cheek.

She feels the heat of his body, the strength in those arms, the surprising gentleness of his hands. Derek pushes her up against the wall again, and captures the gasp that escapes her lips with his own, pinning her with a knee between her legs as her hands wind up in his dark soft hair.

He draws back enough to change the angle of their mouths and kisses her again. His kisses are deep, hard and wet. His skillful tongue and lips tasting her, savoring every moment. Derek kissed and bit at her lower lip, rough groans escaping his lips.

Maddie feels him shift, taking further control of the situation, grabbing her thighs and settling them on each side of his hips and then it's just him, hard and ready, pressing against her, trapping her against the wall and grinding himself against her.

He swallows her gasp and grinds against her once more. She's panting when she pulls at his jacket, trying to pull it off. Derek pulls away, holding Maddie against the wall with his hips as he pulls off his jacket and t-shirt. Her hands move to his shoulders, nails digging into his skin as he grinds against her, grunting loudly.

Maddie feels the taut muscles of his chest and abdomen, spreading her palms over his stomach, fingers tracing his abs.

He pulls away, breathing hard and just stares at her for a moment before his lips meet hers again. He grinds against her, and the low moan she makes is just damn right sexy. He growls in frustration at the jeans that are covering her skin. He pulls completely away from her, dropping to his knees in front of her and undoing her jeans, pulling them down, a little harsher than was necessary and discarding them to the side. He looks up at her, meeting her eyes.

"Take it off," he ordered, his voice gruff.

Maddie was quick to remove her v-neck, stopping when Derek growled as she reached behind her to unhook her bra.

He watched her for a moment before bringing his lips to her hip, his teeth capturing the lace of her panties and pulling roughly, ripping the material. A loud moan leaves Maddie's lips as she watches him.

Derek takes a hold of her thighs, lifting her so her legs are up on his shoulders. He kisses the inside of her thigh and brings a hand up, angling his fingers and pushing inside her. She's so hot and slick that a needy guttural moan leaves his throat.

He looked up at her before bringing his lips onto her swollen nub, tongue flicking as his fingers continued to pump in and out of her until she reaches her climax.

He makes hi way up to her lips again, kissing her and brushing her hair out of her face.

They don't waste a minute before he's between her legs again, lifting her up so her thighs are on each side of his waist. Her hand reaches for his jeans, unbuckling them and pushing them down and waits until he removes them and his boxers completely. She angles him just as he presses a kiss to her shoulder.

WIth a loud moan she engulfs him slowly and his focus wavers slightly before his mind sets on reaching behind her and unhooking her bra. His fingers pinching and pulling at her now uncovered fully erect nipple.

She spreads her legs and takes in his full length, moaning loudly.

He fucked her hard against the wall, swallowing her moans and cries with kisses and making her crazy with dirty words. Derek could barely think straight.

She looks painstakingly beautiful and he feels incredibly smug as he watches her throw her head back and moan. He thrusts and moans and groans and makes sure that every thrust he makes slams her against the wall. The clench of her walls around him as she orgasms makes him almost blind with pleasure and causes his own climax.

Maddie held onto him tightly, arms wrapped around his shoulders, breathing heavily as her body sticks to his with seat.

"Let's go again," she breathed, "though let's move it up to the bedroom this time."


	2. New Wolf

**New Wolf**

Beacon Hills, California

_Monday, January 17, 2011_

Scott had been working hard on tying his lacrosse stick, he was determined to make it to first line during this new semester. It was his new mission and he was going to accomplish it.

The loud thud disturbed the quiet silence of his home. His mother was staying in an extra shift at the hospital, it wouldn't be her. He let his lacrosse stick drop onto the bed and quickly grabbed the baseball bat outside his door and descended slowly down the stairs. He heard the noise again, it sounded like it was coming from outside. As quietly as he could manage, Scott made his way out his front door, looking around warily.

He was startled, and loud screams erupted from his lips as he came face to face with the intruder, who was hanging upside down.

"Stiles! What the hell are you doing?" Scott exclaimed, staring at his best friend with wide eyes.

"You weren't answering your phone!" Stiles exclaimed, his voice reaching an unnaturally high level, brown eyes wide as he hung upside down from the vines that'd grown up the side of the house. "Why do you have a bat?" He asked, slightly confused.

"I thought you were a predator!" Scott yelled, letting the bat fall at his side.

"A pre-" Stiles snorted, cutting off, laughing and struggling slightly before unhooking his foot from where it was caught and flipping onto the ground, landing on his back before getting up off the floor. He grinned widely, "Look, I know it's late, but you gotta hear this. I saw my dad leave twenty minutes ago. Dispatch called, they're bringing in every officer from the Beacon Hills Department- even State Police."

"For what?" Scott asked, confused now.

"Two joggers found a body in the woods," Stiles informed.

Scott blinked, "A dead body?"

Stiles' face fell, giving his best friend a flat look, "No a body of water," he declared sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Yes, dumbass, a dead body."

"You mean," Scott started, "like, murdered?"

"Nobody knows yet," Stiles shrugged, "just that it was girl probably in her twenties."

Scott frowned again, clearly confused, "Hold on, if they found the body, then what are we looking for?"

"That's the best part!" Stiles exclaimed, he'd been waiting all night to reach that topic. "They only found half," he gushed, "we're going."

* * *

Scott was seriously regretting ever listening to Stiles, and it wasn't the only time he's felt that, throughout his many years of knowing Stiles, regret was one thing he was very familiar with, because Stiles always managed to drag him out to do something crazy and Scott immediately regretted it.

"We're seriously doing this?" Scott asked, hopping out of Stiles' old jeep and hissing at the cold.

"You're the one that always bitching that nothing ever happens in this town," Stiles huffed, trudging through the woods.

"I was trying to get a good night's sleep before practice tomorrow," Scott huffed, trying to keep from falling on his face as he followed Stiles through the dark woods.

"Right, 'cause sitting on the bench is such a grueling effort," Stiles laughed, making sure to shine the light in front of him to stop from tripping over anything.

"No, because I'm playing this year," Scott huffed, rolling his eyes. "In fact, I'm making first line."

"Hey's that's the spirit," Stiles chuckled, "everyone should have a dream, even a pathetically unrealistic one."

Scott rolled his eyes again, though didn't comment further on the matter.

"Just out of curiosity, which half of the body are we looking for?"

"Huh," Stiles said thoughtfully, "I didn't even think about that."

Scott looked over at him in disbelief, he should have seen this coming. "And what if whoever killed _the body_ is still out here?"

Stiles paused, looking behind him, "Also something I didn't think about."

"It's comforting to know you've planned this out with your usual attention to detail," Scott muttered.

"I know," Stiles grinned.

"Maybe the severe asthmatic should be the one holding the flashlight," Scott offered, trying to keep up with Stiles.

"Wait," Stiles murmured, straightening up when he heard something, "come on!"

Stiles took off and Scott was left trying to catch up and struggling for breath.

There was a loud bark and then Stiles was screaming and backing away from a dog.

"Hold it right there!"

Scott gasped and quickly hid behind a large tree, mentally kicking herself for ever listening to Stiles. The cops roaming the woods had found him, and if Scott wasn't careful, they would find him too.

"Hang on! Hang on! This little delinquent belongs to me."

That was the Sheriff, Scott recognized his voice and if it was possible he was hating herself even more.

"Dad, how are you doing?" Stiles asked, and Scott knew that Stiles was fidgeting despite the fact that Scott couldn't see him.

"So, do you listen in to all of my phone calls?" The Sheriff questioned, staring at his son with raised eyebrows.

"No," Stiles replied quickly, shaking his head, "not the boring ones," he added, playing with his fingers, eyes darting around the dark forest.

John stared at his son, eyebrows raised and then glanced around them, "Where's your usual partner in crime?" He questioned.

"Who?" Stiles asked, playing confused, "Scott?" He offered when his father stared at him with a flat expression. "Scott's home, he said he wanted to get a good night's sleep for the first day back at school tomorrow," he informed, "it's just me. In the woods. Alone."

John didn't really believe Stiles, he had stopped believing anything from Stiles' mouth a long time ago. He looked out around him, trying to see if he could catch the other boy.

"Scott! You out there?" He called out. He tried again, "Scott?"

When Scott didn't answer, John gave up on it and took Stiles by the ear, starting to walk away. "Well, young man," he sighed, "I'm gonna walk you back to your car. And you and I are gonna have a conversation about something called invasion of privacy."

Scott sighed, shaking his head and didn't move from his spot behind the tree until he was sure that the Sheriff and Stiles were already long gone. Now, he was left alone in the middle of the dark woods where a killer may or may not be with no ride home.

He started walking away, back in the direction he had come from, hopefully he would be able to catch Stiles before he was forced to leave.

He really should've paid more attention to his surroundings, if he had he wouldn't have tripped and rolled down a freaking hill. Scott's breath was coming in gasps and he fumbled slightly to get his inhaler from his sweater's pocket. He shook it and quickly puffed some of the medicine in his mouth. As he tried to put it back in his pocket, the inhaler fell to the ground.

"Crap," Scott muttered, taking out his phone and trying to shine the light on the ground. And then the was dropped to the ground, and what felt like thousands of deer were passing over him, he tried to keep himself from yelling, but he would be lying to himself if he didn't admit that he was completely scared.

He laid there for a while, eyes wide open, watching the last of the deer go off. After a few moments of staying motionless on the ground, he finally rose up, looking around and hoping that no animal would come out of the dark and attack him. He was hoping that there was only little furry animals out there and none of those really scary ones that could eat him.

Maybe he shouldn't have started thinking about scary animal, because he could hear growls out in the forest, and he was sure that whatever was making them were not fluffy bunnies. He started running, his flight or fight instinct kicking in. And he hated the feeling of being chased, he was sure something was following him. But the world seemed to hate him, because Scott swore he'd never experienced as much bad luck as he was that night.

Scott tripped over a tree root, falling flat on his face and groaning, his heart was beating rapidly in his chest and breathing was becoming more and more labored by the second. He quickly roe to his feet, looking around and gasping when he noticed a large shadow out in the darkness. Then came the howl, loud and abrupt. Next thing he knew, he was being attacked from the side, feeling a searing pain by his hip.

* * *

_Tuesday, January 18, 2011_

Maddie woke up to a loud screaming and quickly popped out of bed, eyes landing on Derek who was now awake and staring up at her in confusion. Wrapping herself up in a sheet, she rushed out of her room and down the stairs, reaching the living room to see Mikaela up on the table, looking around her with a disgusted expression and holding a Febreeze spray in one hand.

"This is disgusting, Maddie!" Mikaela screamed.

"Why are you yelling?"

"You're not the only one living in this house, Maddie! You can't just have sex in the living room and not expect me to yell!" Mikaela exclaimed.

"You sounded like you were getting murdered!" Maddie exclaimed.

"My nose was!" Mikaela retorded, spraying at Maddie with the Febreeze she was holding.

"What the hell's going on down here?" Jayden asked, coming down the stairs with a frown evident on his face. He took a sniff of the air and grimaced. "Maddie," he complained.

"You guys are like children," Maddie huffed, "the smell will go away soon enough," she declared, rolling her eyes and making her way up stairs.

Derek was no longer on the bed when she got back to her bedroom, she arched an eyebrow and closed the door behind her. She could hear the water running in the bathroom and figured he was taking a shower, which after the night before sounded like a pretty good idea. She walked into the bathroom and met his eyes through the slightly foggy glass, he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Mind if I join you?" She inquired.

He opened the glass door and stepped aside. "I take it Mikaela wasn't very happy," he declared, facing away from her.

"Nope," Maddie replied, reaching up and and tracing the Triskelion tattoo on his back with her fingers, feeling him tense up at her touch.

"So, what are we doing?" Derek asked.

Maddie knew he wasn't talking about them, he wouldn't want to talk about them. "I'm saying we go out today and scent out the woods, see if we can sniff out this new Alpha that seems to be going around."

"Will Jayden help?" He asked.

"Yes," Maddie replied, "and I would appreciate it if you didn't treat him any differently now tha-"

"Now that what?" He interrupted, turning his head slightly to face Maddie. "Now that I know he's been fucking you for I don't know how many years? Now that I know he's been screwing you every January?"

"Derek," Maddie sighed, shaking her head.

"No, you don't get to tell me anything. I'm _allowed_ to be mad about this," he snapped, turning around to face her, a scowl marring his features.

But he was right, he did have a right to be angry about it. "Alright," she said, "though it's your fault you know, you couldn't expect me to go without sex, especially in January, if you'd been there, this wouldn't have happened," her tone was slightly joking, she wasn't really blaming Derek for it, he had never been to blame.

He growled and pushed her against the wall, holding her up so her knees were on either side of his hips, his hand immediately went to her right inner thigh and a loud gasp escaped her lips, everything suddenly thrumming, her heartbeat accelerating.

"Did this mean nothing to you?" He asked.

She could barely think straight, her breath was coming out in quick gasps, eyes wide and shining red. Her wolf was howling, begging to come out.

Derek kept his hand placed on her inner thigh, watching as she reacted to his touch, to his call. "Could he do this to you?" He murmured, voice barely above a whisper, and pressed his hand harder against her thigh.

"Derek," she begged, whether to stop or take it further she didn't really know.

He started moving his finger slowly across her skin, a caress that had her bucking her hips forward. "Answer me, Madison," he ordered, voise hard.

"No," she whimpered, "no."

"No," he repeated, sounding smug. He dropped to his knees in front of her, lifting her so she was propped up on his shoulders. "I've been waiting to do this since last night," he said, eyes flashing blue and canines extending.

He looked up, meeting her eyes before growling loudly, and then his teeth were biting into her flesh, the one spot where he's done it so many times before, where his Mark lay. His wolf was begging to come out, to reclaim what was _still_ his but hadn't gotten to taste in a long time. He hadn't gotten the chance to do so the night before, she smelled too much like other people, he wouldn't be satisfied, now that last night's sex had left his scent all over her and as the shower removed anyone else's scent except for her own and his, now he could finally do it.

It was something that he had had to fight off for many years, his yearning to go to her, to claim her, night after night, and finally, he was doing it again and it was the best feeling in the world. The feeling of her heels digging into his back, her hands pulling at his hair, feeling her convulse at his touch, hearing her scream both in pleasure and pain, the taste of her, everything was what he'd been craving for years.

* * *

Mikaela had heard the screaming coming from Maddie's bedroom and had decided that it would be a very bad timing to remind her Alpha that she had to be in school for her first day. She was lucky that the second semester had barely started, and she was supposed to be there half an hour early so that the principal could talk to her and proceed to send her to someone to show her round campus. Besides, Maddie was back with Derek, and Mikaela was most definitely _not_ going to interrupt them, she'd been waiting for years for the two to get together, and it was finally happening, she wasn't going to interfere.

"You're not upset are you?" She asked Jayden as they walked out of the house, the keys to the Ferrari in hand.

"Upset about what?" Jayden inquired, throwing a glance over his shoulder.

"That Maddie's with Derek now," she replied.

"No," Jayden replied immediately, and he was being honest, Maddie had never been nothing more than a friend, his Alpha, and once in a while, when he wolf called out, he was there to help her. Sex with Maddie wasn't about love or passion or desire, it had a completely different meaning, though if anyone was to ask him, he wasn't sure he could describe it.

"Are you sure?" Mikaela inquired, hopping into the passenger seat of the Ferrari, looking over at the older wolf.

"Yes," he replied with a chuckle, starting up the car, "I knew that Maddie was Marked, it wasn't a secret, it's not like it was hidden. Me and Maddie, it was just a friendly fuck. In all honesty, I'm surprised the guy - Derek - hasn't come after me yet."

"Oh, I'm sure he wants to," Mikaela nodded, smiling to herself, "knowing Derek he wants to beat you to a pulp, and he probably hates you, and Maddie probably told him that the two of you had sex in January so he probably_ really_ hates you."

"So, what's stopping him from coming after me?" Jayden asked, suddenly feeling a little nervous. Jayden may be older than Derek by a couple of years, but the other wolf was_ born_ and was bigger than him, and though Jayden could put up a fight, he was sure the other wolf could easily tear him down, especially if he was angry enough.

"Well, Maddie," Mikaela nodded, gazing out the window, eyes taking in the small town that surrounded her, "but I doubt she can stop him for long, so really, nothing."

"Great," Jayden muttered.

Mikaela stood quiet the rest of the ride to the high school and she could feel a slight nervousness start to creep up in her chest. Brand new school, with brands new people, it was something that werewolf training didn't really cover.

"You okay?" Jayden asked, pulling into the parking lot. Mikaela noticed the glances the car received.

"Yeah, I'm good," Mikaela said after a few moment, nodding her head and leaning over, pressing a kiss to his cheek and grinning. "I'm good," she repeated, getting a hold of her bag and opening up the door, climbing out of the car.

"I'll come and pick you up after school," Jayden called out, gaining a wave from Mikaela as she walked off.

She was receiving a lot of stares, though she thought that was more because she just got out of a Ferrari than anything else. As a werewolf, she was confident, it gave her assurance that she was still going to be okay despite anything bad that might happen, and yeah, sometimes it helped to think that she was better than regular humans, but that was only when she was too overwhelmed to reassure herself.

She heard a recognizable purr of an engine and saw a Porsche drive down the lot, passing her and parking. A pretty boy stepped out, snapping at some kid on a bike for hitting his door. As the pretty boy walked away from the other kid, he was walking towards her. Mikaela quickly assessed him, the cocky smirks, the expensive clothes, and then his eyes - they revealed everything about him. Yes, he was cocky, pretty boy rich kid who probably got everything he wanted, but there was something he was hiding from the rest of the world; he was just as fucked up as everybody else.

He sent her a smirk when their eyes met, and Mikaela had dealt with people like him long enough to know how to respond to them. She sent him a smirk of her own as she passed by him, her senses invaded by his smell. Mikaela didn't spare him another glance as she walked away.

When she walked passed the boy with the bike she stopped entirely, frowning. She looked him over, meeting his kind brown eyes. He fidgeted nervously so she offered a smile to calm him down, which he quickly returned, peeking up slightly.

Mikaela walked on, her mind going at a million miles and hour. The boy's scent still clouded her nose, it was a smell she was most familiar with; wolf.

* * *

Stiles was sure Scott was entirely insane, it was simply impossible that a wolf bit the guy, they were simply nonexistent in California. Scott has probably mistaken the mutt for a coyote or something.

"Alright then," Scott huffed, causing Stiles to roll his eyes. "Well if you don't believe me abou the wolf, then you're definitely not going to believe me when I tell you I found the body."

Stiles stopped walking altogether, dropping a hand on Scott's shoulder, brown eyes wide as he stared at his best friend. "You- are you kidding me?" He asked, his voice close to yelling.

"No, man," Scott sighed, shaking his head and looking down at the ground, "I wish. I'm gonna have nightmares for weeks."

"Oh God, that's freakin' awesome!" Stiles gushed, "I mean, this is seriously gonna be the best thing that's happened to this town since-" he cut off when he saw a pretty strawberry blonde walking towards them, looking like she owned the world, "since the birth of Lydia Martin," he finished. "Hey, Lydia, you look- like you're gonna ignore me," he declared, faltering mid sentence when all she did was walk past him.

Stiles sighed, shaking his head. He turned to Scott, who was trying to hide his amusement.

"You're the cause of this you know," Stiles said.

"Uh-huh," Scott hummed, agreeing with him only to please him.

"Dragging me down to your nerd depths," Stiles sighed dramatically, "I'm a nerd by association. I've been Scarlett-Nerded by you."

The two continued to walk into the school, and despite it being the first day back at school, the first day of second semester, it didn't really feel like that, Stiles felt at ease as he walked through the halls, bidding his goodbyes to Scott when his best friend when into his class and continuing on, not really wanting to head into his Intermediate Algebra class. He sighed as he neared the water fountain, leaning in to take a sip.

The halls were nearly cleared by now, which meant the bell was going to ring any minute and if Stiles didn't get to class soon, he'd be late on his first day back, not that he cared, but his Dad might, though the probability of him finding out any time soon was more than slim.

Stiles pulled away from the water fountain and turned, knocking into someone. Books and papers fell to the ground and Stiles immediately followed, stacking up all the dropped materials. The owner started stacking them up as well and Stiles looked up to find an unfamiliar blonde crouching across from him.

"Who are you?" The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

Brown eyes met his own and she quirked an eyebrow.

"I'm Mikaela, who are you?" She asked.

"Stiles," he replied immediately, "who are you?"

He was ready to kick himself.

The girl; Mikaela, smiled widely at the foot inside his mouth and shook her head, chuckling.

"I haven't seen you before, you new in town?" Stiles questioned, rising with a binder with stacked papers he was sure were not in orders in his hands.

"Yeah, just got in yesterday," she smiled, holding out her hand to take back her binder, he handed it over immediately.

"We usually don't have people moving into boring old Beacon Hills," he declared, wincing at the loud ring of the bell that cut through the air.

"It's more like moving back," Mikaela replied, "I lived here before."

"Really?" Stiles asked, confused.

"Yeah, Caplan family, we moved away like eleven years ago. We came back one about nine years ago but didn't stay long."

Stiles recognized the name immediately; the Caplan family had been close friends of the Heathrow's and after their murder, they had left town. His father had puzzled over the case, he was the only one that believed the Heatrow family was actually murdered instead of it just being an accident as it was declared in the report, through his father had never gained any evidence that proved his theory.

"Oh, yeah," Stiles hummed, "uhm, we should be getting to class. Sorry I made you late," he added.

"It's fine," she smiled, "see you later, Stiles," she said, walking away before Stiles could say anything else.

He stared at her retreating figure until she rounded the corner and disappeared. As soon as she was gone he sprinted down the hall, heading to his class, slamming into the door of the classroom and pushing inside. Meeting his teacher's eyes with wild eyes.

"Mr. Stilinski."

"Hey, Mrs. Ferrera," he greeted sheepishly.

"Take a seat."

* * *

Derek had left soon after their shower and had returned with his car, appearing at the door just as he was about to open it himself. Maddie looked behind him at the car parked in the drive. "Your dream car," she commented.

"You remembered," Derek said, keeping both his face and voice neutral.

"Of course I did, it's all you talked about when we were fifteen," Maddie chuckled, walking over to the car and running her fingers over the hood.

"I only remember a few of the conversations about the car, I'm sure I didn't talk about it as much as you think I did," Derek told her, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, I remember everything," Maddie smirked, "All of your little fantasies."

Derek almost choked when he heard that, he knew exactly what she was talking about and he was desperate for a change of subject.

"We should go," he declared.

Jayden appeared behind Maddie, a small tentative smile on his face, "Into the woods!" He exclaimed dramatically.

With a small chuckle from Maddie and a scoff from Derek, they set off into the woods, tracking, letting their senses take over.

Maddie crouched, fingers pressing into the wet earth of the preserve, trying to get a feel of the place.

"This Alpha wasn't the only one out here last night," Jayden commented from behind her.

"The woods were full of cops last night," Derek informed, tone gruff. Maddie looked up at him, though he wasn't paying much attention to her, instead he was looking around the forest.

"No, there was someone else," Maddie declared, standing. "There's a wild trail, cops wouldn't have been running around like crazy."

"Whoever this person was, was most definitely afraid," Jayden murmured.

Derek cocked his head to the side, taking a deep breath. Maddie watched him as he started following the messy trail left behind by the mysterious person, and she and Jayden were quick to follow. As Derek kept walking, Maddie started to really recognize the piece of land they were in and stopped.

"What are we doing here, Derek?" Maddie questioned.

"The trail leads this way," he replied, turning only slightly," don't worry, we won't get close enough."

Maddie took a deep breath and trudged forward, following Derek once again, aware of the confused look Jayden was sending her away.

As they got closer, she could smell it, it made her want to puke.

Derek suddenly stopped and crouched, picking up his inhaler from the ground.

"So, this person was running around through the woods last night, scared half out of their mind and asthmatic, did they even survive the night?"

"We haven't found a body yet, that's a good sign," Maddie murmured, trying to block out the smell, but it was hard to ignore.

"You guys smell that?" Jayden asked suddenly. "It smells like-like burnt- burn something and- death."

A sob escaped Maddie's lips, and she was more than shocked, she hadn't cried in ages.

"Maddie?"

"Go," Derek snapped, "go follow another trail or something, just go."

"But-"

"Now!" Derek growled.

Jayden obliged, walking off. Maddie looked at Derek through teary eyes, his face a blur. She could feel a pain at her chest, as if her heart was being squeezed. She started walking again, towards the house, stopping only when Derek caught her arm.

"I don't think heading over there is a good idea," he said, and she understood why, but she had to.

"I want to see it," she insisted.

He sighed and turned away from her, starting to walk again. Maddie followed him. In truth, she didn't need him to find it, but she needed him at her sider side. Despite everything that had ever happened between her and Derek, she still relied on him heavily.

The smell got stronger the closer they got and it was giving Maddie a headache. Finally they reached the house and Maddie felt like she was being ripped up inside. She hadn't been in Beacon Hills in ages, especially not after the fire. Tears fell from her eyes, her breathing became labored and she could feel the beginnings of a panic attack. She wasn't happy with the fact that in the past two days her body had been betraying her more than ever.

Arms wrapped around her, squeezing her hard against a solid body.

"You're okay," Derek murmured, "you're fine."

He was hugging her so tightly, tight enough that it became hard to breathe. She relaxed into his arms, feeling his grip loosen once she was calm enough.

"I told you this was a bad idea," Derek declared.

"When do I ever listen to you, huh?" Maddie questioned, trying to lighten the mood.

* * *

Mikaela rummaged through her locker, trying to fix it up and make sure everything was neat. One thing she hated, is never being able to find things in lockers, the only solution was keeping it neat.

"You're new here, right?"

Mikaela turned to see a girl with long, black curly hair, large brown eyes and a small, dimpled smile standing behind her.

"Yeah, I'm Mikaela, just got to here yesterday," Mikaela informed.

"Me too!" She exclaimed, seeming relieved. "I'm Allison, I'm new too. Just got in from San Francisco yesterday. I heard talk of a new girl that wasn't well - _me_ and thought we could plow through this 'being new' thing."

Mikaela smiled widely, a small sense of warmth starting in her chest, her wolf recognizing this girl as someone she could - further on - trust.

"I would love that," Mikaela smiled, "I mean, buddy programs and all that, right?"

"Right," Allison nodded and then opened the locker right next to Mikaela's which made both girls chuckle.

"That jacket is absolutely killer."

Both girls turned to see a petite strawberry blonde girl with a killer smile and sparkly green eyes standing behind them. Mikaela seriously wondered if random people came up to others out of nowhere all the time in this school. The girl was looking at Allison, looking her over, obviously she was referring to Allison's jacket.

"Where'd you get it?" She asked.

"My mom was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco," Allison informed.

"And you are my new best friend," the girl smiled, just as the boy with the Porsche came up behind her and wrapped an arm around her. "Hey, Jackson," the girl greeted, not shy about fully kissing him in front of the two.

"Hey," he greeted, "who's this?" He inquired, eyes darting between Mikaela and Allison.

"I'm Allison," she said with a grin.

"Mikaela."

"You're both new here, right?" He inquired, eyes lingering on Mikaela a little longer than he did with Allison. He didn't wait for an answer, "I'm Jackson," he declared, the motioned to the strawberry blonde, "This is Lydia."

"There's going to be a back to school party," Lydia declared, looking at both girls with a small grin.

"A party?" Allison asked.

"Yeah, tomorrow night. You guys should come," Jackson declared.

"I can't," Allison declared, "it's family night this Wednesday, besides, it's a school night. Thanks for asking."

Simultaneously, frowns appeared on Jackson and Lydia's face. "You sure? Everyone's going after the scrimmage."

"You mean like football?" Allison asked.

Mikaela snorted, "Football's a joke in Beacon," she informed, "from what I remember, Basketball and Lacrosse are the main sports here."

"Yeah," Jackson said, slightly surprised. "Lacrosse has won the state championship for the past three years, Basketball has won the past four."

"Lacrosse wins only because of a certain team captain," Lydia declared, kissing Jackson once again.

Mikaela noticed that Allison was staring at her with a raised eyebrow. "I used to live here before, a long time ago. A family friend was part of the Basketball team, we always went to the games."

Allison nodded, offering a small smile.

"How about you?" Jackson asked once he and Lydia had stopped sucking face. "You coming to the party?"

"Sure," Mikaela smiled.

"We have practice in a few minutes," Jackson said, "that is, if you guys don't have anywhere else-"

"Well, I have to-"

"Perfect, you're coming!" Lydia exclaimed, letting go of Jackson and taking hold of both Mikaela's hand and Allison's and starting down the hall.

* * *

Maddie and Derek had taken a couple of hours to themselves after them heading to the Hale house. He'd taken her mind off of everything horrible that had happened in their lives, even if it was just for a couple of hours. But of course, they could never really catch a break; Jayden called her with alarming news.

"Are you kidding?" Maddie asked.

_"No. Why would I joke about something like this?"_ He asked.

"Do you know who he is, exactly?" Maddie asked, crawling out of bed and towards the window.

_"No. Mikaela sniffed him out earlier in the morning,"_ Jayden declared, _"Maddie, this could be the person that was running through the woods. What if he got bitten?"_

Maddie sighed, running a hand through her hair and turning around, eyes meeting Derek's, who was currently sprawled out in bed, listening intently to her conversation.

"He could be, don't approach him, okay? We can't freak him out."

_"Too late,"_ Jayden sighed.

"What do you mean, too late?" Maddie questioned.

_"Mikaela approached him. It was indirectly, just talking to his friend while he was there. Good news is that Mikaela seems to be making lots of friends.,"_ Jayden declared.

"Alright, just don't do anything, okay?" Maddie sighed. "Are you two coming back?"

_"Mikaela wants to watch the lacrosse practice, so, not yet."_

Maddie nodded, smiling slightly at Mikaela's small high school accomplishments on her first day. "Did you leave my car in a high school parking lot?"

_"I parked it next to some rich kid's Porsche, I don't think anyone will touch it,"_ Jayden assured, sounding amused, "_Gotta go."_

Jayden hung up before Maddie could say anything else, and with a sigh, she tossed her phone onto an empty spot of the bed.

"Do you think the Alpha bit someone?" Derek questioned.

"I don't know. I mean, we don't know how long it's been since this kid has been a werewolf. Jayden assumes it was the person running through the woods, but what if it isn't? I mean we still have no idea what the hell is going on Derek," Maddie sighed, "Laura was killed and we don't know by who or why and we have some Alpha running around turning wolves and we have no idea who he is,."

Now that she had full knowledge of everything that was happening in Beacon Hills, it was easier to control her emotions. Her attacks had happened few times throughout her life. All of them happening in times where something had happened to those she cared about. She never shifted, it was like that one part of her was suppressed whenever her emotions went out of control, which was highly unusual for weres, but it somehow happened to her.

"We'll figure this out," Derek assured, sitting up and rubbing his jaw.

Maddie sighed, "I'm going to take a shower," she declared, making her way towards the bathroom.

"I'll join," Derek murmured.

And they _did_ take a shower, a regular shower. There was a certain tension that had taken over Derek's body, and Maddie's touch only seemed to make it worse.

"What's wrong?" She asked, finally.

"This," Derek replied, "all of this."

Maddie didn't know whether he was speaking about them, or their lives, though either was acceptable to be upset over.

"No one ever said life was easy, right?" Maddie murmured.

"No one ever said life was going to be so fucking hard, no one ever said it was going to be so fucked up. Madison, our lives are shit holes," Derek growled, letting the soap from his body run off with the water. "We were born wolves, we were born into packs, we were supposed to have the easy life, and what do we get?" He turned around, facing her, a scowl clear on his face. "Both of our families are dead, killed by psychotic freaks and all we've done is fucking suffer and we're going to keep suffering because our lives fucking suck."

He finished with a huff, closing his eyes for a moment, letting the water fall on him. Maddie took a deep breath and stepped forward, going on her tippy toes and placing a soft kiss on his lips, bringing his head down and pressing another kiss to his forehead before wrapping her arms around his, her body pressed against his. She felt safe there, it wasn't about sex, it was more than that, the emotional link that had always been between them, it was prominent in that one moment than it had been in years.

"I love you," Maddie murmured, "and I know you may not love me the same way, not like you used to, and I'm not expecting you to, but I'll always love you, I always have, and I needed you to know that."

"I know."

* * *

_Saturday, February 22, 2003_

_"Stars, they're beautiful aren't they?" Maddie asked, staring up at the starry sky._

_"Yeah, but you know what's even more beautiful?" Derek inquired._

_Maddie turned to Derek with a flat expression, "I swear, if you say me, I'm going to punch you," she declared._

_"I was going to say Cynthia Barlow but whatever," Derek shrugged, breaking out into a grin._

_Maddie laughed, rolling onto her side, "You're such an asshole," she said._

_"I'm amazing," Derek said, "you're just jealous."_

_"Of what?" Maddie snorted, shaking her head._

_"Me."_

_"Yeah, okay," Maddie scoffed, shaking her head and laying on her back again._

_Derek smiled, looking at her a moment longer before staring up at the sky, "I'm really glad you're back, Madison. It hasn't been the same without you."_

_"Of course not," Maddie chuckled, "and stop calling me Madison."_

_"That's your name isn't it?" Derek challenged._

_Maddie looked over at him, he was looking at her with a large grin and bright green eyes. "I like _Maddie_ better," she replied._

_"I like_ Madison _better, it's just_ you_," he declared, turning on his side._

_"You're weird," Maddie laughed._

_"I'm amazing," Derek contradicted._

_"And weird."_

_Derek's grin broadened, "So you admit that I _am_ amazing."_

_Maddie laughed, not meeting his eyes, "You _do_ have some outstanding qualities, but I wouldn't say amazing," she declared._

_"Yeah, okay," Derek chuckled, nudging her side and laying on his back once again._

* * *

"Let's go," Maddie sighed, pulling away from him. "I want to head out into the woods again."

* * *

"Do you smell that?" Derek questioned.

"Blood," Maddie nodded, starting off in a new direction.

They didn't have to walk long before they found her and Maddie had to choke back a sob, bringing her hand up to her mouth. Half of Laura's body was out on the ground, bloody and dirty, her once beautiful green eyes dead.

"She's in half," Derek finally said.

"That's a hunter's kill," Maddie nodded.

Derek growled, "Hunters."

"Let's bury her," Maddie declared, "we bury her, and then we worry about hunters."

"I have wolfsbane at the house," Derek declared, "we'll bury her there, with everyone else."

Maddie frowned at his words, but she understood it. Pack was laid to rest with pack, especially when they were family.

They had wrapped Laura up in a large blanket, making it easier to carry her back to the Hale house, where Derek's Camaro was parked. Derek wordlessly handed her a shovel and the two started to dig, it felt like hours, but she knew it was only minutes. And when Derek brought out the wolfbane, with a heavy heart, they both started to thread the rope with it, forming a braid of sorts. Their wolves kept coming in and out, trying to come out yet suppressed by the human side.

"Are we doing this?" Maddie questioned once they were done with the rope.

"Yes," Derek replied, no hesitation, no second thought.

Slowly, Derek started to wrap the rope around Laura's covered body, and proceeded to lay the rope in a spiral around the body.

Revenge, it symboled revenge, a vendetta, a promise.

As Maddie started throwing the dirt back in, Derek made sure that the flower at the end of the rope ended up above ground, a grave marker, not that they needed it, but it seemed fit.

Derek had just made an unbreakable promise, a promise that he hadn't made six years ago when his family was killed, yet mad today. She knew he had had enough, and this was his way of showing not her, but himself.

* * *

Scott and Stiles were walking together through the woods, both were still pumped up about the lacrosse practice they just attended. After his plays in the field, catching Jackson's ball and managing to make a perfect play he was immediately promoted to first line.

"I seriously don't know man," Scott said, shaking his head, "I don't know what it was. It was like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball," he added excitedly. "And that not it, it gets weirder. I can hear stuff I shouldn't be able to hear, smell things."

"Smell things?" Stiles asked with a chuckle, eyebrows raised, "Like what?"

"Like the mint mojito gum in your pocket," Scott told him, eyebrows raised.

Stiled snorted, "I don't have a mint mojito-" he paused rifling through his pockets when he found the gum in there. "Right," he muttered, "So, all of this started with a bite," he commented.

"What if it's like an infection, like, my body's floating with adrenaline before I go into shock or something?" Scott inquired, his excitement disappearing and replaced by panic.

Stiles smirked, but pasted a worried expression on his face. "You know what?" He said, nodding his head, "I actually think I've heard of this, it's a specific kind of infection."

"Are you serious?" Scott asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah, I think it's called lycanthropy."

"What's what?" Scott asked, his voice rising to a higher pitch. "Is that bad?"

"Oh yeah, it's the worst! But only once a month," Stiles informed.

Scott caught himself before tripping over one of the branches when he turned around to look at Stiles, he was surprised, before everything had happened to him, there was no way he would've caught himself. He looked back at Stiles with raised eyebrows, thinking about Stiles' answer.

"Once a month?" He inquired, eyebrows raised.

"On the night of the full moon," Stiles said, trying his hardest to hold in his laughter, instead he howled, which made Scott glare at him. "Hey," he started defensibly, "You're the one who heard a wolf howling."

"There could be something seriously wrong with me," Scott scolded.

"I know, you're a werewolf!" Stiles exclaimed, giving his best friend a growl, when he received another glare, he rolled his eyes, "Okay, obviously I'm kidding. But if you see me in shop class trying to melt all the silver I can find, it's 'cause Friday's a full moon."

Scott stopped walking, confused when he came up onto an empty space of woodland where he knew the body was before.

"No, I could have sworn this was it. I saw the body, the deer came running. I dropped my inhaler," Scott said, swirling around in a circle.

"Maybe the killed moved the body," Stiles offered.

"If he did, I hope he left my inhaler, those things are like eighty bucks," Scott groaned.

Stiles rolled his eyes, looking around. His eyes widened when they landed on two figures. "What are you doing here?" The man asked, and he looked angry enough to rip them to shreds. "This is private property," the guy snapped.

"Uh, sorry, man, we didn't know," Stiles mumbled, tumbling over his words.

"Yeah, we were just looking for something, but, uh, forget it," Scott said, pausing every once in a while as he spoke.

Stiles watched the woman, she didn't say anything, though the way she was staring at Scott and him was sending chills throughout his body. The man moved faster than Stiles thought possible, and then Scott was catching his inhaler, staring at it in bewilderment, when Stiles looked back at the two older people, there was unreadable expression on both of their faces before the girl walked away, the man following shortly after.

"Alright, come on, I gotta go to work," Scott declared, not bothering to stop and wonder how those two people had known the inhaler was his, which Stiles thought ludicrous.

"Dude," Stiles snapped, "that was Derek Hale. You remember, right? He's a few years older than us."

"Remember what?"

"His family," Stiles sighed, slightly annoyed. "That all burned to death in fire, like, ten years ago."

Scott stared after the two curiously, "I wonder what he's doing back," he murmured.

With a sigh, Stiles decided it was a good idea to get out of the forest, "Come on," he ordered. He didn't know what was going with Scott, he went from a severe asthmatic that sucked at lacrosse to a first line player with no asthma in a day and it was insane.

* * *

When Maddie and Derek got back to her home, Mikaela was sprawled out on the couch and Jayden in the kitchen.

"Hey!" Mikaela greeted with a smile, not bothering to get up. "You guys done fucking?"

"Language," Mikaela scolded, shoving Mikaela's feet off the couch and taking a seat.

Mikaela rolled her eyes, "Jayden's making cookies," she informed.

"Nice," Maddie nodded, "we found Laura."

"What? Where?" Mikaela asked, seeming alert.

"In the woods," Maddie replied, "she's already buried," she added.

Mikaela paused, thinking it over, she wondered if Derek or Maddie had done_ it_. She figured Derek must have noticed the look on her face because he answered her unasked questioned.

"Yeah, it's done," he told her.

"So, we're doing this? We're going all the way?" Mikaela inquired, sitting up.

"Yeah," Maddie said after a small pause of silence.

"Good," Mikaela declared, standing and walking off before Maddie or Derek could say say anything else. Derek and Maddie looked at each other, their gaze interrupted only when the bell rang.

"That's weird," Maddie murmured, standing and heading over to the door, the Sheriff was standing there. "Sheriff?"

"We heard you were back in town," the Sheriff declared, "i was wondering if you could tell me where Derek Hale is."

* * *

Scott was glad that work was almost over, he just needed to feed the cats and clean up a little and he would be on his way home. It was rainy out, and he was glad that his mom had agreed to let him use the car. He took a deep breath, carrying in the bag of cat food and walking into the room where all of the cats were in.

"Hey kitties," he greeted, leaning forward to open one of the cages.

The cats all screeched, all jumping around in their cages, all of the cats in the room, trying to escape the cage, to run away from him.

Scott surged back, jumping out the room and slamming the door shut, breathing heavily, wondering why in the world the cats had acted like that to him.

Before he could think much of it, he heard the loud banging of a fist against glass. Someone was at the door.

He walked over, opening the door with a raised eyebrow. "Hi," he said dumbly when he saw a crying Allison at the door.

"I didn't see it. I took my eyes off the road for, like, two seconds to change the song on my iPod, and then this dog, it just came out of nowhere!"

Scott's eyes widened when he took in her panic, "It's alright, it's alright, it's alright, it's alright," he said, trying to calm her down. "Do you remember where it happened so I can send Animal Control to find it?"

Allison shook her head, her wet hair making droplets fly, tears were still streaming down her face, though she was trying hard to reel them in. "No! I mean, yes, I know where I hit it, but the dog is–"

"Where is it?" Scott asked, his voice rising above it's normal volume to speak over her sobbing.

"It's in my car," Allison said, finally calming down enough to speak with only a slight sob escaping her lips.

The two went out to the car, Allison opening the trunk, revealing a dog laid on the back, breathing quickly. Allison reached forward, but the dog barked and bit at her extended hand in response. Allison jumped back, a gasp leaving her lips, brown eyes widening.

"You okay?" Scott asked, looking at her with raised eyebrows. Allison nodded in response, hugging herself. "She's just frightened," Scott told her.

"That makes two of us," Allison said, taking in a shaky breath.

Scott smiled, "Let me see if I have any better luck," he told her, reaching forward, his arm extended, moving slowly as he reached out for the dog. Without him noticing, his eyes turned into a golden amber color and the dog immediately calmed. He smiled proudly and reached out for the dog.

The two teens headed inside, Scott carrying the dog in his arms, trying to be as careful as he could, not knowing what kind of injuries the dog maintained. He set the female dog down on the examination table and took a look. "I think her leg is broken," he declared after a few minutes, "I've seen the doctor do plenty of splints. I can do it myself and then give her a painkiller for now," he informed.

Scott moved around, getting the supplies he needed before he realised the girl he was so infatuated with was standing there, wet, cold and hugging herself.

"Yeah, I have a shirt in my bag," he said nervously.

Allison shook her head, "Oh, I don't want to trouble you."

Scott grabbed his bag, pulling out his spare shirt and handing it over to her, "Here," he said. Allison smiled taking the shirt and walking over to a different room to change her shirt. He couldn't help himself when he peeked in through the window on the door, watching as Allison removed her shirt, her back was turned, but just seeing her undress was enough for his teenage hormones. The dog whined and Scott's head snapped over to it, noticing the sort of look it was giving him, "What? I didn't see anything."

A few minutes later, Allison reemerged from the room, giving Scott a small smile. "Thanks for doing this. I feel really stupid," she chuckled.

"Why?" Scott inquired.

"I don't know. 'Cause I freaked out like a total girl," Allison shrugged, feeling embarrassed.

Scott's eyebrow arched, and small amused smile appeared on his lips as he worked on the dog, "You are a girl," he declared, trying to keep his laughter in.

Allison sent him a look, which only made his smile grow wider, "I freaked out like a girly girl, and I'm not a girly girl," she huffed.

"What kind of girl are you then?" Scott asked, eyebrows raised, his brown eyes shining with amusement.

"Tougher than that," Allison sighed, then added, "At least, I thought I was."

"Hey, I'd be freaked out too," Scott assured, a small reassuring smile appearing on his lips, "In fact, I'd probably cry. And not like a man, either. Like the biggest girly girly ever. It'd be pathetic."

"Yeah, right," Allison scoffed.

Scott chuckled, shaking his head and returning to care for the dog, after he was finished he looked up at her with a small smile. "So–It looks like she's gonna live," he declared, "And I'm pretty sure she'll even let you pet her now, if you want," he added, giving her a cheeky smile and raised eyebrow.

Allison bit her lips nervously, remembering how the dog reacted to her in the first place, "I don't think so," she said.

"Oh, come on. You don't want her to sue. I hear this breed is very litigious," he told her, motioning for her to step forward. After a slight hesitation, Allison took a deep calming breath and extended her hand to pet the dog. Scott's smile widened when the dog didn't react badly. "You see? She likes you," he said happily.

He looked up at Allison, studying her with a small wonder in his eyes. Allison noticed and she met his eyes with a nervous smile, "What?" She asked.

Scott blushed, "Uh. Sorry," he muttered, "You have an eyelash on your cheek," he said in excuse, noting that she did actually have an eyelash on her cheek.

"Ah. It's from the crying," she said, trying to wipe it off. When she failed, Scott reached up brushing the eyelash from her cheek. Allison smiled, blushing slightly. "Thanks."

Scott chuckled, "Yeah," was all he thought of saying. He decided to take his chance, "So, um– I was wondering– I mean– Is it really family night on Wednesday, or do you think maybe you'd like to go to that party with me?"

Allison paused, wondering how he would know about the family night thing before decided to ignore it and smile widely, "Family night was a total lie," she laughed.

"So is that a yes, you'll go?" Scott asked hopefully.

Allison grinned, nodding her head, "Definitely yes."

* * *

When Scott received Stiles' crazy phone call, he definitely did not expect anything of what had happened. Though sharing the news about Allison when talking on the phone didn't seem to make anything better.

Scott walked into Stiles' room, immediately bombarded by his best friend.

"Get in," Stiles ordered, "You gotta see this thing. I've been reading– websites, books. All this information," he said excitedly.

Scott stared at him, eyebrow raised, "How much Adderall have you had today?"

Stiles paused, "A lot," he answered, "Doesn't matter," he added, shaking his head quickly, "Okay, just listen!"

Scott took a seat on the bed, "Oh, is this about the body?" He inquired, guessing, then perked up some more as he thought about it, "Did they find out who did it?"

Stiles shook his head, moving impossibly fast, "No, they're still questioning people, even Derek Hale," he girl, are they questioning her too, since the two somehow know each other?"

"I don't know! But that's not it, okay?" He snapped, trying to get Scott to get into the subject he was talking about.

"What, then?" Scott asked.

"Remember the joke from the other day?" He asked, "Not a joke anymore. The wolf–the bite in the woods. I started doing all this reading. Do you even know why a wolf howls?" Words were flowing from his mouth at abnormal speed.

"Should I?"

Stiles sighed, "It's a signal, okay?" He asked, "When a wolf's alone, it howls to signal its location to the rest of the pack. So if you heard a wolf howling, that means others could have been nearby. Maybe even a whole pack of 'em."

Scott looked shocked, "A whole pack of wolves?"

"No–Werewolves."

Scott sighed, standing "Are you seriously wasting my time with this? You know I'm picking up Allison in an hour!"

Stiles glared, "I saw you on the field today, Scott. Okay, what you did wasn't just amazing, all right? It was impossible."

"Yeah, so I made a good shot," Scott shrugged.

Stiles shook his head, "No, you made an incredible shot, I mean– The way you moved, your speed, your reflexes. Y'know, People can't just suddenly do that overnight. And there's the vision and the senses, and don't even think I don't notice that you don't need your inhaler anymore," he said, speaking quickly, it was hard for Scott to keep up with him.

"Okay! Dude, I can't think about this now. We'll talk tomorrow," he said, reaching for his bag.

Stiles looked at him incredulous, "Tomorrow?! What? No! The full moon's tomorrow, it'll be too late then. Don't you get it?"

"What are you trying to do? I just made first line. I got a date with a girl who I can't believe wants to go out with me, and everything in my life is somehow perfect. Why are you trying to ruin it?" Scott asked, starting to get angry.

"I'm trying to help. You're cursed, Scott," Stiles said, almost as if it were hurting him to say it, "You know, and it's not just the moon will cause you to physically change. It also just so happens to be when your bloodlust will be at its peak."

"Bloodlust?"

"Yeah, your urge to kill,"

Scott rolled his eyes, glaring, "I'm already starting to feel an urge to kill, Stiles," he declared.

"You gotta hear this. 'The change can be caused by anger or anything that raises your pulse.' All right? I haven't seen anyone raise your pulse like Allison does," He stood from his chair and grabbed Scott's phone from his friend's bag, "You gotta cancel this date. I'm gonna call her right now.

"What are you doing?" Scott asked, eyes widening.

"I'm canceling the date," Stiles informed, clicking away at his phone.

Scott surged forward, shoving his friend against the wall, "No, give it to me!"

Stiles stared at Scott in shock, his brown eyes wide.

"I'm sorry," Scott said, letting Stiles go, he was still shocked at himself, he couldn't believe he'd let himself get so angry. "I'm sorry."

Stiles watched his best friend go with a fear settling into the pit of his stomach. He swallowed, picking up his swivel chair from the ground, staring at the slashes with a gaping expression.

* * *

_Wednesday, January 19, 2011_

Scott awoke in the woods, looking around incredibly confused. He had no idea why he was there. He should be at home, waking up in his bed, not in the woods.

That's when heard it, the leaves crushing behind him, the growl, and his instincts told him to run, so he did. He started running as fast as he could, trying to get away from the thing that was chasing him. He could hear it.

Scott jumped from place to place, running as fast he could. He jumped off one of the rocks and mid jump he realized that he was going into the river.

He was suddenly surrounded by water, and he rushed to the top, trying to get air. When he finally broke the surface, he found himself not in the river, but in a pool, with a guy staring at him with wide eyes and gaping mouth while he watered his plants.

"Good morning," Scott greeted stupidly.

Scott shut his locker, sighing. His eyes widened when he saw Jackson standing there.

"Alright, little man," Jackson snapped, "How about you tell me where you're getting your juice," he ordered.

"What?" Scott asked, confused.

"Where. Are. You. Getting. Your. _Juice_?" Jackson asked, wondering if he would have to spell it out for the younger boy.

Scott was incredibly confused, he honestly didn't know why Jackson was so riled up about where he bought his juice. "My mom does all the grocery shopping," he declared.

Jackson stared at him, wondering if the kid was mentally retarded. He surged forward, pressing the younger boy against the lockers. "Now, listen, McCall! You're gonna tell me exactly what is it and who you're buying it from, because there is no way in hell you're out there kicking ass on the field like that without some sort of chemical boost!"

"Oh!" Scott exclaimed, realization dawning on him, "You mean steroids!" He nodded his head, then frowned, his eyes slightly narrowed as he stared at Jackson, "Are you on steroids?"

"What the hell is going on with you, McCall?" Jackson asked, clearly annoyed, shoving him harder against the lockers.

"What's going on with me?" Scott snapped, "You really wanna know? Well, so would I! Because I can see, hear, and smell things that I shouldn't be able to see, hear, and smell. I do things that should be impossible, I'm sleepwalking three miles into the middle of the woods, and I'm pretty much convinced that I'm totally out of my freaking mind!" Scott exclaimed.

"You think you're funny, don't you, McCall?" Jackson asked, "I know you're hiding something, I'm gonna find out what it is. I don't care how long it takes," he snapped, walking off, leaving a confused Scott behind.

* * *

After school, Maddie had joined Mikaela at the scrimmage. She hadn't been to a school in ages, and it brought memories back, good memories. But mostly, Maddie really wanted to see Scott.

"I heard Stiles and Scott talking earlier," Mikaela declared, "Stiles said something about wolf hairs on the body."

"I'm guessing they're talking about the other half," Maddie murmured, voice barely audible.

"Yup," Mikaela nodded.

"So the Alpha did bite him," Maddie concluded.

"Yes." Mikaela nodded. "Oh, and there's a party tonight, I was planning on going."

"It's a full moon," Maddie said.

Mikaela turned to her, "Yes it is, and from what I've heard from Stiles' chatter all day, is that Scott is going, and he's going with Allison."

"Allison?" Maddie asked, eyebrows raised.

"Argent," Mikaela informed. "Allison Argent."

Maddie leaned forward, frowning, "There's hunters in town?"

"Yeah, I just found out her last name today," Mikaela declared, "they're the ones that killed her, they killed Laura."

"We don't know that," Maddie replied.

"She was cut in half, that a hunter's MO," Mikaela insisted.

"We don't do anything until we know for sure they did it, okay?" Maddie said, pouring authority into her voice.

"I told Derek," Mikaela said after a moment of silence.

"What?" Maddie asked, eyes widening.

"I thought he deserves to know," the blonde said softly, "I texted him when I found out, and he told me he would talk about it with you first before he did anything, _if_ he did anything."

"You should have come to me first," Maddie sighed.

"I know."

* * *

Maddie was right, it had taken a little bit longer than she had expected, but sweet, tender Derek had hidden behind his walls. And on a night of the full moon, his anger seemed more prominent and he seemed a little more irritable than usual.

"You alright?" Maddie inquired.

"Depends on how you define that word," he replied, turning off the drive and getting onto the main road. Mikaela had just been dropped off at the party by Jayden, and Derek was driving right behind him now.

"You're angry."

"I'm always angry, couldn't you tell?" Derek snapped.

"Well, excuse me if I find it weird. You're just so hard to keep up with Derek, one day you're on eway, the other day you're another way. One day you hate me, one day you care for me, the next day you go back to hating me again.

"It wasn't like that," Derek sighed, "I didn't hate you, we just didn't talk."

Maddie shifted her body so that she face him completely. "You hated me Derek. Ever since I left Beacon Hills nine years ago, we never spoke and we never saw each other. And six years ago you still hated me, I could feel it."

"Oh come on," Derek scoffed, "you're one to talk, six years ago you could barely look me in the eye, we fucked and we said our goodbyes, that was it."

"Yeah, because you hated me, you were so angry at me!" Maddie exclaimed. "You barely even spoke to me!

"Yes we did, Madison!" Derek exclaimed, "After my family died, Laura and I went to live in New York with you!"

"No, Laura lived in New York with me, you were never in the house, the only words you ever said were Hi and Bye. You hated me and you know it."

Finally, Derek exploded, "How was I supposed to react, Madison? You left!"

"I had to!"

Derek slammed down on the breaks, they weren't on a main road, so there was no chance of another car passing by. Jayden didn't stop, which Maddie appreciated.

"No, you didn't, Madison, you had a choice, and you chose to leave," he snapped.

Maddie shook her head, "No, I had to go, Derek."

Derek growled, reaching out to place his hand on Maddie's thigh, his fingers grazing that one spot on her inner thigh that made her gasp, glad that he received the reaction he expected, he pressed down on that same spot, enticing a loud moan from the Alpha.

"This meant everything to us and you threw it away!"

Maddie reached up, twining her fingers in his hair as he pressed down harder on that spot, a breathless moan escaping her lips. "I never threw it away, Derek," she whispered.

"Then why did you leave?" He asked.

Maddie pulled him forward, "Stop, Derek," she begged. She didn't want to give into him, she didn't want this to happen, especially how he was doing it.

His face was inches from hers, his breath fanning across hers. He could smell the arousal, his wolf pushing him to continue what he was doing, happy that he was finally with Maddie again. "Why?" He whispered.

"Because, you don't want this," she said. "Not like this."

Derek took a deep breath, leaning forward to nuzzle her neck, drinking in her scent before retreating his hand from her thigh and backing up. Trying to tame the wolf inside of him, the one that wanted so desperately to come out, to claim what was his.

"I'm sorry," was all he said before starting to drive again.

* * *

Derek just drove around aimlessly. And he just decided to stop, the road quiet and incredibly lonely.

Derek was still fighting with his wolf, trying to reel him in. Being so close to Maddie didn't help, it was her the wolf wanted, to claim once again, to make his mark and Derek was slowly giving in. He knew he shouldn't, he knew he should still be angry with her. But it was so hard, being so close to her and making himself stay away. That was the reason why he had never been around the house in New York after the fire, he couldn't be close to her or he would give in.

Now that she was back, back to help him out with the issue of the Alpha, to help him find out what happened to his sister. He allowed himself to get close to her, and everything was just getting so much harder for him.

Finally, after so long of being quiet, Derek decided to speak. "Dylan told me what you're doing with Beacon," he said, his voice strained.

"He did?" Maddie asked, surprised. The Beacon issue was still a work in progress. It was a plan her father had formulated when he was twenty two, when he had become the Alpha of the Heathrow pack. And when he died she had continued it. It had been worked on for twenty-five years and she was very happy with the results so far.

"Yeah, it came up in conversation one day," he declared, "I think it's a really good plan"

"Yeah. Having the pack all in one place instead of spread out over different towns over the country seems like a better option."

"It is," Derek said.

"Replacing every citizen in a city with the pack isn't as easy as it seems," Maddie sighed.

"How long do you think it will take before you can settle everything?" Derek asked, his voice soft.

"Who knows, we're twenty five years in and we're not done yet," Maddie sighed, "but we've accomplished a lot in the past nine years, and if we keep moving at this rate, who knows, maybe in another decade and some to finish off the rest?"

"It's better isn't it?" Derek inquired, "Having the pack all grouped together?"

"Definitely, it's better when you're with family," Maddie replied.

"How many wolves have you settled into Beacon?"

Maddie cocked her head to the side, thinking it over, "About 10,000," she said.

They slipped into silence once again. Derek looked over at her, taking in everything about her. She had changed since he had last really talked to her. She'd grown, and not just physically, but he could see the weight of leading a pack of fifteen thousand werewolves on her shoulders, could see the exhaustion in her brown eyes. Physically, she'd changed. She was much curvier, her body was toned, and she was so incredibly sexy, it was perfect in every way and he fucking loved it.

A growl escaped his lips, his wolf reeling inside of him, egging him on. Maddie looked over, feeling her heart hammering in her chest, her mouth suddenly becoming dry. Derek was losing control, she'd seen it happen before, she knew he wouldn't be able to control it, especially with the amount of time they had been separated.

"You know, I've been so angry at you, ever since you left all I could think about was how things would've turned out if you hadn't left, what would've happened if we had stayed together and I would've never been with Kate to try and get over you."

An angry growl tore through the tension in the air. "Don't you dare blame the fire on me, Derek!" Maddie exclaimed. "It wasn't my fault! I had to leave, my pack needed me! I'm sorry you couldn't understand that," she snapped. "Kate's a manipulative bitch, I have no idea how you let yourself be fooled by her, if there's anyone to blame-"

"What? You're going to say it was my fault? Huh, like I didn't already know that!" Derek yelled.

"No!" Maddie screamed, frustrated, "It's her fault Derek, she did this to me too, remember? She's crazy bitch that gets a kick out of killing people! It's her fault, it's not mine and it's not yours!"

Derek and Maddie were both breathing heavily, glaring at each other, trying to get the other to back down. Derek growled, a animalistic roar that was both angry and frustrated. He surged forward, smashing his lips against hers, his kisses rough and demanding. Maddie growled, biting his lip hard enough for blood to flow into her mouth. She brought her hand up to his hair, pulling roughly, pulling him away from her.

"Remember all the times you used to talk dirty to me, Derek?" She asked, bringing her mouth to his ear, biting on his earlobe. When he didn't answer, she bit harder, causing him to gasp in pain, "Answer," she ordered.

"I remember," he gasped.

"Do you remember the times when you used to tell me what you would do to me once you got your dream car?"

"Yes," he gasped, wincing slightly at the pain when she bit his earlobe harshly again.

Maddie changed her dominant attitude to a more submissive one, letting her grip on his hair turn soft, softly running her fingers through it and turning her biting to soft sucking. She let his earlobe go and breathed softly onto his neck, making Derek shiver. "I'm all yours, Derek."

A growl escaped Derek's lips and he smashed his lips onto Maddie's, placing his hands on her hips and shifting over to her side of the car, reaching over to the side to make the seat recline before pulling away from her lips and lifting her shirt, revealing more of the body that he loved so much. He went on his knees on the floor, kissing every inch of her exposed skin, unbuttoning her jeans with easiness.

Maddie lifted her hips as Derek removed her jeans. She knew what he was aiming for, the one thing his wolf was so desperate for.

Derek pushed her legs open, his eyes landing on her inner thigh, his breath quickening as he stared at it. He was so desperate for it, his need to do it practically pouring out of him.

"Go ahead, do it," Maddie told him, bringing her left leg up to his shoulder. She met his eyes, seeing as they brightened to a blue and his incisors lengthened.

Drinking in everything about the woman laying on his car seat, he looked down at her inner thigh again and opened his mouth, bringing his mouth down to her thigh and biting down hard. Maddie screamed out both in pleasure and pain, gripping onto his hair.

Derek felt relieved when he felt her flesh at his mouth, tasted her blood and heard her scream, his wolf finally appeased.

* * *

Maddie and Derek rounded back to the party once the full moon was bright up in the sky. Derek immediately had catched the attention of the new wolf, though managed to get out of the kid's sights when the boy was distracted.

They easily blended in with the party goers and didn't catch much attention as they sat at one of the tables by the pool. With it being a full moon, her pack was texting her non stop, and Derek didn't fail to notice.

"The Alphas, right?" Derek inquired, watching her as she typed away on her phone.

"What?" Maddie asked, looking up momentarily before returning her attention to the phone.

"Your Alphas take care of all the Beta in a full moon, right?" Derek inquired.

"Yes."

"So, instead of having each of your Betas text you to update you on what's going on, you divided your pack with each of the Alphas, what I don't understand, is how you got Alphas to work under you. I know for a fact that Alphas don't like to be bossed around."

"It's different with the Heathrow pack, I never really understood it myself, but it's always been like this. With my father, my grandfather, my great grandmother, and every Alpha before that. We've just managed to be the Alphas of Alphas. And the Betas are loyal to all the Alphas, especially to me."

Derek was going to ask another question, learn more about the pack dynamics, but before he could, he heard the worried questions from the party guests, and then saw the teen - Scott - dashing through the crowd of people.

"It's starting," he said, starting to rise from his seat to follow.

"Wait," Maddie said, reaching out to stop him, "I have a better plan."

The two heard Scott get into his car, peeling down the street. Derek was still waiting for Maddie to tell him her plan.

"You got take care of Allison, take her home and make sure you get something of hers, something that Scott can follow. I'll wait out in the woods."

"You want me in close quarters with an Argent?" Derek asked, eyebrows arched.

Maddie sighed, "Intel I got says she's not a hunter, so just make sure you don't kill her."

* * *

Stiles didn't know what made Scott think Derek Hale was a werewolf, and he didn't know what made Scott think Derek was the one that turned him, and he didn't know why Scott thought Derek killed the girl from the woods. But he knew it was probably a mistake that he told Scott who'd taken Allison home from the party. Now that he was sure that his friend was wolf, he didn't know what to think. If Derek Hale was a werewolf. Why would he want to bite Scott? Why would Derek kill the girl from the woods? And how was the girl that was with Derek involved.

He didn't understand any of it.

And everything got worse when he went to the Argent house, panicking about Allison to the girl's mother only to find Allison was at home, safe and sound. His day was just full of crazy.

* * *

"Where is she?" Scott asked. He was wolfed out, his brown eyes now an amber color, hair now trailed down almost all the way to his chin, his face morphed to fit his wolf features, his incisors elongated, his claws out and sharp.

Derek stared at him, eyebrows raised, "She's safe, from you."

"What did you do with her?" Scott growled.

Derek was about to answer, but Maddie appeared at his side, and the two exchanged a glance, eyes wide. "Quiet," Derek ordered.

"It's too late," Maddie declared, shaking her head, meeting the young Beta's eyes, "They're already here."

"Run," Derek ordered, disappearing.

Scott turned towards where Derek was standing with Maddie moments before, he was going to start following them, but was stopped when his arm was pinned down to the tree by an arrow. He looked up, shocked to see four people standing there, glaring.

"Take him," one said.

Maddie rushed at the men, taking them out one by one, the leader turned around, eyes wide while Derek rushed over to break off the arrow and taking Scott with him.

When the three wolves were far enough away, Derek let go of Scott, making him fall to the ground, Maddie came up beside him. Scott was back to his normal form, the wolf gone.

"Who are they?" Scott asked, gasping.

"Hunters, the kind that have been hunting us for centuries," Derek declared.

Scott was staring between the two, breathing heavily. "Us? You mean you! You did this to me!"

"Is it really so bad, Scott?" Derek snapped, "That you can see better, hear more clearly, move faster than any human could ever hope?"

"You've been given something that most people would kill for. The bite is a gift, Scott," Maddie informed, standing in front of him with crossed arms.

"I don't want it," the younger boy growled.

Derek laughed, "You will," he declared, leaning down so that his face was at level with the young man. "And you're gonna need me if you want to learn to control it. So you and me, Scott, we're brothers now."

Scott stared at the two, he blinked, turning away from them, he was going to say something, to demand to know what the two wanted from him, why Derek would do this to him. But when he looked up, they were gone.

* * *

**A/N: Guys. I honestly don't know if this chapter makes any sense at all. It's horrible. I've been picking it up and dropping it so many times I think I forgot what the hell was happening. Please tell me if you catch any flaws or if the chapter doesn't make sense. Thank you! **


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